HMS Queen Elizabeth was taking up to 200 litres of seawater an hour because of an Inflatable Rubber Ring sealing failure

The UK’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was formally approved into Her Majesty’s fleet by The Queen on 7th December 2017 in Portsmouth, had a leak due to a faulty Inflatable Rubber Ring seal around one of its propeller shafts. It was sent back to Portsmouth for dry-dock for repair.

An example of an Inflatable Rubber Ring seal:

The defect on the £3.1bn Navy’s new aircraft carrier was discovered during sea trials. At the time internal pumps were working overtime to get rid of the leaking sea water. Despite the fault, the warship was still going to continue its sea trials in January 2018.

HMS Queen Elizabeth warship was built in blocks across the following 6 yards around the country – Govan, Scotstoun, Appledore, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Portsmouth. Finally, assembled at Rosyth.

HMS Prince of Wales (HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sister ship), that is yet to start its sea trials in 2019, is now going to go for tests if it has the same problem.